NSA Leaker Edward Snowden: ‘I Already Won’

The Guardian via Getty Images(MOSCOW) — Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor whose leaks exposed the U.S. government’s bulk collection of phone and Internet records, says his mission has been accomplished.

“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished. I already won,” Snowden says in an interview with the Washington Post from Moscow, where he’s been granted temporary asylum.

The 30-year-old, who’s been charged with espionage and felony theft of government property, goes on to tell the newspaper’s Barton Gellman that he didn’t want to change society.

“I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself,” Snowden says.

He adds, “All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed. That is a milestone we left a long time ago.”

The interview marks the first time Snowden has spoken to a reporter in person since arriving in Russia in June. He tells Gellman he is living the life of an “indoor cat,” eating ramen and chips.